Reluctant Seduction
by wickedplay
Summary: Holly Mendel's final promise to a dying woman is that she'll marry her son, who just happens to be an Azkaban prisoner. Under the ruse of his caretaker she struggles with seduction, playing a game neither of the pair can avoid. Barty Crouch stoy
1. Chapter 1

**Important!!!: I think I like this Barty Crouch story better then the other one... I'm thinking of changing the other one into a Lucius Malfoy one or something... feedback would be nice. Five reviews and you'll get the next one :D**

**Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing but the characters created by me... everything else is pure JKRs'.**

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**Reluctant Seduction .:Chapter One:. **

It was the middle of the night and the rain striking the house did nothing to calm my turbulent thoughts. All I could do as I lay in bed was stare up at my canopy, the conversation I had held with Patricia Crouch running through my mind for the hundredth time in two days.

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.:Flashback:.

I walked into a sitting room and my eyes landed on a frail and withered woman barely able to sit upright. My eyes stung with tears though I put on a smile, I knew I would lose her in a few days at the most. If we were lucky.

"Winky said you called for me," I said as I walked to her side.

"Holly, I know I have already asked a lot of you ---"

I made to stop the false claims but she stopped me with a wave of her thin hand.

"No dear, I have asked more of you then even a mother has a right to ask and I'm not even lucky enough to call you my own daughter."

I shook my head but I couldn't say anything or I knew that the knot in my throat would unleash a flood of tears that didn't need to be seen.

I had come to live with the Crouchs five years ago when my own mother died; as she left me I was alone with no one else to call family. Fortunately, my mother's best friend and my Godmother was Patricia Crouch, the very woman sitting before me, at the funeral she had asked me to stay with her and her husband, for a little while she said, and the happiness in her eyes when I agreed, reminded me of my own mother.

My mother would always tell me stories of her and her best friend and the trouble they would get into but circumstances in their lives led them to not see each other often but I still remember the owls coming in every week and my mother reaching out so eagerly to read the letter.

Before the funeral the only other time I remember seeing Mrs. Crouch was years before that, when she arrived at our house looking for solace when her son had been sent to Azkaban by her husband and his father.

After I had arrived, a year passed but I couldn't get myself to leave and I soon found myself a permanent resident of the Crouch Manor, I was comforted by Mrs. Crouch, she was like a second mother who always wanted to spoil me and I knew that having me there reduced the sadness of her son not being with her. Four more years soon passed and that brought me to this moment in time, where her illness was ravaging through her already weak body.

My thoughts were jarred when I felt something wet land on my hand and I looked up to see Mrs. Crouch's eyes filled with tears already sliding down her pale cheek. I felt my own fill with tears but I blinked them from sight... I didn't want her to see my misery; she already had more then enough on her plate.

"Holly, I need you to promise me something."

"I would do anything for you." I whispered and it was true, she really was my second mother.

"Dear heart, don't agree to anything until you hear what it is."

I smiled, she sounded so much like she used to before the illness had her suffering so badly.

"As you know, I'm about to die soon, no matter what anyone says, and my last wish is that my son be free. I know that what he did was wrong, but he's already spent so much time in Azkaban for that and I want to die knowing that he is in safer hands and I've already gotten Bart to agree to this so no matter what you say, I'll still go though with it."

It was safe to say that I was confused. What her son did wasn't just wrong but evil however there was no way that I would admit that to her, she still saw him as her little boy and I wasn't going to be the one to wreck her opinion of him though I doubt I would be able to.

"We're going to see him tomorrow, and I'm going to trade places with him using Polyjuice Potion."

_WHAT?!? _

"And he's going to come back here with his father and I'm going to take his place."

I couldn't say anything... I was much too shocked. It had to be some sort of twisted joke.

"Winky is going to heal him, you know she's always been for the family, but this is where you come in."

All I could do was gape at her.

"Barty has gone through so much in his young life and though he is coming back here, he will have to disappear from the world and I don't want him to end up alone. I've seen the kindness you possess and I know it will be difficult to love him but I know you have it in you, and I know you can make Barty love you. I want you to marry him, could you do that for me Holly?"

I had to say no, I wasn't going to marry a Death Eater...

But I couldn't say no, Mrs. Crouch meant so much to me and if she wanted me to do something for her, after everything she had done for me, I couldn't brush it off.

The words were out of my mouth before I could think things properly through...

"Of course."

.:End Flashback:.

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Who knew two little words would have such a large affect? I didn't know why I agreed but somehow I couldn't find myself to object, the hug she gave me when I agreed told me how much it meant to her and I couldn't take it away from her. 

We had sat in there for two hours and she told me that she wouldn't tell Barty that his bride was at home but that there was a young woman who would look after him. The look of happiness on her face made her thin face years younger and it was evident that she was once a beauty.

She told me that it would be my responsibility to make him fall for me but that she knew that I would be able to do it and that Winky would help me.

As I sat up in bed I couldn't help but smile at the way that had given me advice on seduction and the seduction of her own son to boot. It made me think that maybe that my mother hadn't been exaggerating when she told me tales from her school days.

I heard the front door slam and the rush of footsteps up the stairs. I peaked out of my room to see Mr. Crouch in the strangest possession, it seemed as if he was pulling something up but there was only thin air.

I gasped and put my hand to my mouth when I saw the clock slip off to reveal a feeble and sickly young man.

Barty Crouch Junior.

I went back to my bed and sat heavily on my bed, up until that moment I had prayed it was all a joke but it wasn't.

There was an escaped Azkaban prisoner in the room next to mine. A sick woman had taken his place and I was an accomplice of some sort. Oh and I was to marry the escaped prisoner.

I felt the tears start to pour down my face but I made no motion to stop them or even clear them because I knew it would be no use, there were plenty more to accompany those that had already fallen.

I was crying for myself and more importantly Mrs. Crouch, she would spend the rest of her days in Azkaban, the worst of all prisons, and her only solace was that her son was safe and about to fall in love with her best friend's daughter.

I knew that no matter how much I hated him I would have to keep my word... there was no way I would let her down.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay I've updated. And I will update again, probably by next weekend. I suck, I know. I don't know why I'm so lazy, I just kind of am. Oh and I thank and love all those who reviewed. And yes, this Barty Crouch Jr. is based on the WB version, played by David Tennent. And I hate the dialogue scenes between Holly and Crouch Sr. and Holly and Winky. I just needed those things to be done to go on with what everyone really wants to see: scenes between Holly and Barty. **

**Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing but the characters created by me... everything else is pure JKRs' though I would like to own Barty Crouch Jr., possibly tied to my bed **

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**Reluctant Seduction .:Chapter Two:.**

The next morning I woke up to a banging on the door. I groggily pulled on my dress robe before getting the door. It wasn't until I was about to pull it open when I remembered what had happened the night before, or more who had happened the night before.

I quickly stepped back. What if it was Barty Crouch Jr.? What if he had killed everyone in the house and was coming after me?

I was too young to die at the hands of a prisoner.

"Miss Mendel," a voice I instantly recognized as Mr. Crouch Sr. said. "Would you open the door? There are matters that need to be discussed before I leave."

I relaxed and pulled open the door, a slight smile on my face for thinking that the frail man I have seen yesterday could have overpowered Crouch Sr. It was probably closer to the truth that he had died overnight.

And once I opened the door hope started to bloom that the escapee had gone onto greener pastures or more likely, the hot fires of wizardry hell. Mr. Crouch was dressed in his stately attire and his face was much more relaxed then it had been for the past week or so.

The only reason for that could be because Crouch Jr. had died. It had been obvious that the only person who had any desire to go through with the plan who been Mrs. Crouch.

"Miss Mendel," he began, "I have to leave today to attend to matters..."

_... because my evil son has died and I need to bring back my loving wife. _

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_"that only the ministry can send me to take care of. As you are aware of my son occupies the room next to yours and..."

_... he has left this world. _

"as my wife has told me, you are to act as caretaker for him."

All my hopes were crashed in that single sentence. The only reason Crouch looked relieved was because he would be far away from this house. This house that was hiding an Azkaban prisoner, a prisoner that should have received the Demontor's Kiss.

"I know you are aware that should the contents of the room next to your own get out, we will all be sent to Azkaban so I know there is no need to press on you the dire need for secrecy. I have already told Winky the details to his care and she will inform you of those herself."

He was out the door before I could scream by growing anger at him. Why was he leaving now? Why was he going and leaving me alone with a Death Eater? And most importantly, why the hell was that Death Eater's room next to mine!?!

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A few hours passed and I soon found myself too hungry to keep sulking in my room. Besides a promise was a promise so that meant a monster or not I would have to seduce him sooner or later and right now he was probably too sick to do me any harm so sooner would probably be better.

I opened my door cautiously and slowly entered the hallway to find Winky leaving Crouch's room with her arms wrapped around a bowl of soup.

"Mistress Mendel," Winky curtsied. I smiled at the elf, at least some things were the same.

"I'm told that I'm supposed to be your assistant Winky."

I gave a halfhearted smile, Winky's expressions too humorous to do anything else. We went downstairs where she served me breakfast.

"Winky," I called out. "Two questions. Were you about to feed Crouch Jr. when you saw me? And do you know how long until Master Crouch Sr. comes back?"

Winky appeared by my side with another glass of orange juice just as I finished talking and answered, "Master Crouch said to expect him in a month or so..."

I inwardly cursed the cold bastard.

"... and I tried to feed the young master but only got him to eat a few spoonfuls."

My eyebrows knit together. The soup bowl had been filled to the top when I had last seen it; if he didn't eat more there was no hope that he would survive, which wasn't a bad thing for me but the young man was still Mrs. Crouch's son.

"When a soul is torn in two between doing the right thing and the wrong thing that really is the right thing what should it do?" I muttered to myself.

"It should do the thing that achieves the most good." My mother's voice echoed in my ears.

_Damn_.

"Alright Winky, I'll take over from here. Why don't you go and make pumpkin rolls for the evening. I've been told that Crouch Jr. liked those."

I started to walk back upstairs when Winky asked me, "Is Mistress sure?"

My laugh was bitter as I replied, "Not at all, Winky, not at all."

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Back in my own room, I changed out of my morning clothes and put on Muggle jeans and a tight sweater.

I had grown up with pureblood parents but my father had been something of a Muggle fiend so growing in an all-Muggle neighborhood ended up with Muggles being my closest friends.

I longingly gazed at my half-made bed, a large part of me wanting to hide underneath the covers but a small part, was telling me that I was Holly Mendel, daughter of Margot Mendel and in no way one to be trifled with. I would be stronger then my fears and I would seduce this fugitive.

With those brave or very foolish thoughts in my head I headed out to confront Barty Crouch Jr. or as I preferred the Monstrous Azkaban Man.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's another update. Sorry! But I've been horribly busy. Remember, if I get reviews and the such I will update again. Maybe even before the next year! God I suck. Also do we like this Barty Crouch? Or should I make his character more… creepy? This is short but I thought you should all know that I'm still alive. Also how fast do you want things to happen between Holly and Barty?**

**Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing but the characters created by me... everything else is pure JKRs' though I would like to own Barty Crouch Jr. **

**Reluctant Seduction [Barty Crouch Story] .:Chapter Three:.**

It was nothing more then a door. A big wooden door and yet I was scared to touch it.

My god. I had to be born a wimp.

I had been standing outside _HIS_ door for the past 20 minutes trying to work up the courage to actually turn the doorknob. I had my wand held so tightly in my hand that I was sure that the lines were imprinted into my palm.

Another thing I was contemplating was bringing my wand into the room. Does one bring a weapon into a homicidal maniac's room or does one leave it behind, losing any kind of protection against the latter?

An image of skinny shoulders and a neck too weak to support an even skinnier head ran through my head. The invisibility charm had slipped off a feeble young man who would be nothing without a wand.

My courage built up as put my wand back in my room and went to open the door. My right hand turned the knob as my left held the bottom of the soup bowl. If he were to survive then I was pretty sure food was necessary for that to happen.

Walking into the room I felt my skin turn cold. It had less to do with the temperature of the room and more with the aura. It was as if I was walking in to a grave. Even in my sweater I shivered. How was _anyone _supposed to survive in this?

Getting closer to the bed, I felt hot liquid splash on my hands. I was shaking so hard the soup in the bowl was getting spilt. Everything in me screamed to turn back and shut the door. No one knew about my little agreement. No one would know and even if they did, no one would blame me for backing out of it. He was a murderer for goodness' sake. A MURDERER.

No one would be aware that is but me. My mind kept on flashing back to Patricia Crouch's face and the happiness on it when I had agreed. The comfort and solace it had given her. My own mother had raised me to keep my promises. Especially the important ones.

This was a path I had no choice but to take. I had stepped to the headboard and I looked down to look at…

_Oh my. _

He was handsome. He was really handsome. He looked too thin and obviously he was sick. But he was still quite attractive. He slept while I looked at him, too weak to even thrash around properly though he seemed to be in the throes of a horrible nightmare. His dark hair was too long and more then a little in need of a washing but I found myself kneeling by the side of his bed using my fingers to push it back, to keep it out of his face. His cheekbones protruded; his face just like the rest of him, so gaunt.

I slid my hand down his face and slightly cupped it. He seemed to calm down under me, his slumber more peaceful.

I felt ice clamp down on my wrist and gasped. His hand held onto me. I gasped and looked back to his face as his eyelids snapped open. I would have fled the room if it hadn't been for his hand on me.

My voice came out stronger then I expected it to be, "My name is Holly Mendel. Your mother asked me to care for you. If you would let go of my hand, I could begin to do just that."

I would have given myself a high-five if it weren't for the fact that he _hadn't let go of my hand._

As I watched his tongue came out slowly to lick the corner of his mouth. A shiver of anticipation, anticipation for what I had no idea, ran down my spine. He stared at me, not speaking, his hand ice-cold. His tight hold loosened only when he slumped back, his eyes shutting. Apparently, even holding onto me took all of his strength.

My breath came out in a shudder. I hadn't even realized that I had been holding it. I started to rub where his hand had held onto me. There was sure to be a bruise tomorrow.

_Okay that wasn't so bad._

When I had looked into his eyes, the only emotion I could read was fear. Azkaban had really done a number on him. Something akin to concern washed over me. The man lying before me didn't seem quite like a murderer, more like a scared little boy who needed to be taken care of.

I started to force feed him the watery broth. The task ended up becoming more task consuming then I had previously thought it would be. I could only give him so much for fear that he wouldn't swallow. It was dusk by the time I finished, though there was still half the bowl left.

As I wiped my brow, I came to the realization that I was both physically and mentally exhausted. This wasn't going to be easy. Before any type of _seduction_ could occur, I would need to nurse him back to health.

Calling Winky, I told her to get the fireplace working, as well as new sheets and to wash down _Master Crouch._ While she was at work I would get something for myself to eat, as well as take a shower.

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I walked back into the room, my spirit having been rejuvenated after my long shower. It had always struck me as funny how the simplest things brought me the most pleasure. The room's conditions had also been vastly improved. The air was cleaner, warmer. This room was no longer a threshold where death was lord and master.

I sent Winky to bed. He needed to get used to me, and the sooner that was done, the better. He slept fitfully, peace not his even in dreams.

A chair had been placed before his bedside and I sat in it staring at the man who was supposed to become my…

What exactly? Husband? Lover?

Friend?

None of those things seemed plausible. Just because he was attractive didn't mean I would come to care for him.

As I stared I became aware that he was stirring. This time when he woke, I wouldn't let him get the better of him.

As his eyes opened, I sat straighter in my chair.

"I hope I won't have to repeat myself, sir. I believe you remember me from this afternoon." My words came out calm, though it took everything in me to keep my body from shaking.

"And here I thought you were just a figment of a nightmare." His words meant to hurt where ruined by the sheer agony in his eyes.

His voice was raspy, the voice of a man who hadn't used it in years. His fingers trembled as they reached for me. Unable to stop myself, I backed up with the chair. The horrible screeching sound that followed ruining my calm.

He smiled then, his tongue once again licking a corner of his lips. But it wasn't a nice smile; it wasn't even a sane smile. This was a smile invoked by the fear he saw he had caused.

But two could play at this game. It took everything in him to hold onto my wrist for a few minutes today. There wasn't a chance he could do more then that today.

"I promised your mother I would help you. The least you can do for her now is to be taken care of. She is in hell right now, and for what? So that you could be saved. I hope you have the sense to take this chance. She's dying a death that was meant for you." My words came out harsher then I meant, fear and pain twisting them into cruelty.

His eyes blazed and I ducked as the soup bowl came flying. The look of him told me that I needed to leave.

I ran out the door, risking a quick glance back. He had twisted the sheets around him, his back turned to mine. His body was heaving as if a grief too large to make voice of held him.

I almost turned back, the need to comfort only shadowed by my own sense of self perseverance.

_I am in way over my head._

And there was definitely no turning back.


End file.
